Search results matching tags 'Tips' and 'Performance'http://sqlblog.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?o=DateDescending&tag=Tips,Performance&orTags=0Search results matching tags 'Tips' and 'Performance'en-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP2 (Build: 61129.1)Learn More About SQL Server IO and Query Tuning in These Webcastshttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2012/12/14/learn-more-about-sql-server-io-and-query-tuning-in-these-webcasts.aspxFri, 14 Dec 2012 18:50:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:46662KKline
<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">I'm doing two new webcasts next week on Wednesday, December 19th, one in the morning and the other after lunch.</p>
<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">&nbsp;</p>
<h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">SSDs are a Game Changer for SQL Server Storage</h2>
<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">No, session is not exclusively about SSDs. &nbsp;But this is my first session on IO and storage tuning that emphasizes SSDs over hard disks. &nbsp;As Bob Dylan said "Times, they are a'changin'". &nbsp;This session on Wednesday, December 19th at 11:30 AM EST, sponsored by Astute Networks, takes you through all of the basics of storage and IO tuning, regardless of the underlying storage technology. &nbsp;I'll show you how SQL Server handles storage structures, how to identify IO activity on Windows and SQL Server, and best practices for minimizing IO bottlenecks. &nbsp;Register now for:<a title="Kevin Kline's Storage IO Best Practices for SQL Server" href="http://bit.ly/UcXYI3">&nbsp;Storage IO Best Practices for SQL Server and a New Approach to Solving Application Performance Issues</a>.</p>
<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">&nbsp;</p>
<h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">Write Better SQL Queries</h2>
<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">The next webcast on Wednesday, December 19th at 2 PM EST, is with me, Aaron Bertrand &nbsp;(<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/AaronBertrand">Twitter&nbsp;</a>|&nbsp;<a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/rss.aspx">Blog</a>)&nbsp;and SQLCruise Impresario &amp; Microsoft MVP Tim Ford &nbsp;(<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/sqlagentman">Twitter</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ford-it.com/sqlagentman/">Blog</a>)&nbsp;as we take you through the query tuning process, discussing important DMVs to use during query tuning, as well as demonstrating several essential query tuning techniques that every SQL developer should know. &nbsp;Not only are we presenting an hour of top quality technical content, we’ll also be giving away some cool prizes, including the grand prize of a paid registration for the upcoming&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://elink.sqlsentry.net/c/1/?aId=67857085&amp;requestId=b34612-273953cd-e600-4a18-979a-a9f2ded860bd&amp;rId=lead-a407ed107f65de119513001e0b614992-c233a49718324979b0d8efc0614ff5d0&amp;ea=aunefuonetre=pbz=vagrepreir&amp;dUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsqlcruise.com%2F2013-cruises%3F_cldee%3DbmhhcnNoYmFyZ2VyQGludGVyY2VydmUuY29t&amp;uId=0">SQLCruise Miami</a>, a $1,395 value! &nbsp;Register now for:&nbsp;<a title="SQL Server Query Tuning Best Practices, Hosted by Kevin Kline, Aaron Bertrand, and Tim Ford" href="http://bit.ly/UskPPm">SQL Server Query Tuning Best Practices, Hosted by Kevin Kline and Aaron Bertrand with special guest Tim Ford</a></p>
<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">I hope to see you at both of these sessions next week! &nbsp;Best regards,</p>
<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">-Kev</p>
<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><a title="Kevin E. Kline on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/kekline">-Follow me on Twitter!</a></p>Quick Tip - Speed a Slow Restore from the Transaction Loghttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2012/11/14/quick-tip-speed-a-slow-restore-from-the-transaction-log.aspxWed, 14 Nov 2012 15:59:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:46209KKline<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">Here's a quick tip for you:</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">During some restore operations on Microsoft SQL Server, the transaction log redo step might be taking an unusually long time. &nbsp;Depending somewhat on the version and edition of SQL Server you've installed, you may be able to increase performance by tinkering with the readahead performance for the redo operations. &nbsp;To do this, you should use the MAXTRANSFERSIZE parameter of the RESTORE statement. &nbsp;For example, if you set MAXTRANSFERSIZE=1048576, it'll use 1MB buffers.</p><div style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><div align="left">If you change the MAXTRANSFERSIZE, keep an eye on the PerfMon objects for Buffer Manager and Readahead IO. &nbsp;You may also wish to keep an eye on LOGBUFFER wait stats.</div><div align="left"><br></div><div align="left">I'd love to hear your feedback. &nbsp;Have you tried this technique? &nbsp;Did it work as advertised? &nbsp;Did it require some changes to work on a specific version or edition?</div></div><div align="left" style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><br></div><div align="left" style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">Many thanks,</div><div align="left" style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><br></div><div align="left" style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">-Kev</div><div align="left" style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><br></div><div align="left" style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">-<a title="Kevin E. Kline's Twitter Feed" href="http://twitter.com/kekline">Follow me on Twitter!</a></div>The Zombie PerfMon Counter That Never Dies! Quick Tiphttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2012/10/08/the-zombie-perfmon-counter-that-never-dies-quick-tip.aspxMon, 08 Oct 2012 11:55:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:45480KKline<h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"></h2><h2>The PerfMon Counters That Just Won't Die</h2><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2093" title="zombie-baby1" width="300" height="296" style="border:1px solid black;cursor:default;float:right;font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;margin:2px;" src="http://kevinekline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/zombie-baby1-300x296.jpg"><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">One of the things that's simultaneously great and horrible about the Internet is that once something gets posted out in the ether, it basically never goes away. &nbsp;(Some day, politicians will realize this. &nbsp;We can easily fact check their consistency). &nbsp;Because of longevity of content posted to the Internet, a lot of performance tuning topics become "zombies". &nbsp;We shoot 'em in dead, but they keep coming back!</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">In other words, those old recommendations&nbsp;<em>were&nbsp;</em>a suggested best practices for long ago, for a specific version of SQL Server, but are now inappropriately for the newer version. &nbsp;It's not uncommon for me, when speaking at a conference, to encounter someone who's still clinging to settings and techniques which haven't been good practice since the days of SQL Server 2000. &nbsp;Here's an example of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/maintain/sqlops6.mspx">Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Best Practices that are very version-specific</a>.</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">So here's an example. &nbsp;The %Disk Time counter and the Disk Queue Length were heavily recommended as a key performance indicator for IO performance. &nbsp;SQL Server throws a lot of IO at the disks using scatter/gather to maximize the utilization of the disk-based IO subsystem. &nbsp;This approach leads to short bursts of long queue depths during checkpoints and readaheads for an instance of SQL Server. &nbsp;Sometimes the server workload is such that your disk can't keep up with the IO shoved at it and when that happens, you'll see long queue lengths too.&nbsp; The short burst scenario isn't a problem. &nbsp;The lengthening queue length scenario usually is a problem. &nbsp;&nbsp;So is that a good practice?</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><strong>In a word, not-so-much.</strong></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">Those counters can still be of some use on an instance of SQL Server which only has one hard disk drive. &nbsp;But that's&nbsp;<em>exceedingly</em>&nbsp;rare these days. &nbsp;Why?</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">The PerfMon counter %Disk time is a bogus performance metric for several reasons. &nbsp;It does not take into account&nbsp;asynchronous&nbsp;I/O requests. &nbsp;It can't tell what the real performance profile is for an underlying&nbsp;&nbsp;RAID set may be, since they contain multiple disk drives. &nbsp;The PerfMon counter Disk Queue Length is also mostly useless, except on SQL Server's with a single physical disk, because the hard disk controller cache obfuscates how many IO operations are actually pending on the queue or not. &nbsp;In fact, some hard disks even have tiny write caches as well, which further muddies the water was to whether the IO is truly queued, in a cache somewhere between the OS and the disk, or has finally made it all the way to the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cmos">CMOS</a>&nbsp;on the disk.</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><h2>Better IO PerfMon Counters</h2><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">Instead of using those PerfMon counters, use the Ave Disk Reads /sec, Avg Disk Write /sec, and Avg Disk &nbsp;Transfers/sec&nbsp;to track the performance of disk subsystems. &nbsp;These counters track the average number of read IOs, write IOs, and combined read and write IOs to occured in the last second. &nbsp;Occassionally, I like to track the same metrics by volume of data rather than the rate of IO operations. &nbsp;So, to get that data, you may wish to give these volume-specific PerfMon counters a try:&nbsp;Avg Disk &nbsp;Transfer Bytes/sec, Ave Disk Read Bytes /sec, and Avg Disk Write Bytes/sec</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><h2>For SQL Server IO Performance, Use Dynamic Management Views (DMV)</h2><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">And unless you've been living in a cave, you should make sure to use SQL Server's Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) to check on IO performance for recent versions of SQL Server. &nbsp;Some of my favorite DMV's for IO include:</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><ul><li>Sys.dm_os_wait_stats</li><li>Sys.dm_os_waiting_tasks</li><li>Sys.dm_os_performance_counters</li><li>Sys.dm_io_virtual_file_stats</li><li>Sys.dm_io_pending_io_requests</li><li>Sys.dm_db_index_operational_stats</li><li>Sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats</li></ul></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">Many of these DMVs are fully document in this Books Online article here at&nbsp;<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187974.aspx">Microsoft SQL Server 2012&nbsp;Index Related Dynamic Management Views and Functions</a>.</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">So how are you tracking IO performance metrics? &nbsp;Which ones are you using?</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">I look forward to hearing back from you!</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">Enjoy,</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;">-Kev</div><div style="font-size:13px;font-weight:normal;"><p>-<a href="http://twitter.com/kekline">Follow me on Twitter!</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><div><br></div></div>Two New Slide Decks. Plus, the Week in Colorado.http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2012/08/20/two-new-slide-decks-plus-the-week-in-colorado.aspxMon, 20 Aug 2012 15:03:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:44792KKline<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><a href="http://kevinekline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMAG2488.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-2027" title="Kevin and the SpringSQL Leadership" alt="" width="240" height="143" style="border:0px;cursor:default;float:right;" src="http://kevinekline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMAG2488-300x179.jpg"></a>I had the honor of traveling the great state of Colorado last week, speaking at the PASS chapters in&nbsp;<a title="Boulder, CO SQL Server Users Group" href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/boulder-sql-server-users-group">Boulder</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Colorado Springs, CO SQL Server Users Group" href="http://www.springssql.sqlpass.org/">Colorado Springs</a>, and&nbsp;<a title="Denver, CO SQL Server Users Group" href="http://denver.sqlpass.org/">Denver</a>. &nbsp;At all three events, we had a stellar attendance and, at least&nbsp;<a title="A Huge Crowd for the Denver SQL Server User Group!" href="http://img.ly/m6ZG">in Denver, broke all the records</a>&nbsp;in recent memory both in terms of overall attendance and in first-timers. &nbsp;Denver, in fact, was standing room only and had nearly 30 first time attendees. &nbsp;Great news! &nbsp;I also want to give a special shout-out of thanks and appreciation to&nbsp;Chris Shaw (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/SQLShaw">Twitter</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://chrisshaw.wordpress.com/feed/">Blog</a>) whose hard work and tenacity ensured that all of Colorado got to see me speak. From left to right, Gabriel Villa (<a title="Gabriel Villa on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/extofer">Twitter</a>), me, Chris Shaw, and Rebecca Mitchell (<a title="Rebecca Mitchell on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/sqlprincess">Twitter</a>). &nbsp;If it weren't for Chris, I wouldn't have been there. &nbsp;Thanks for putting in the time, amigo!</p><h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">New Slide Decks!</h2><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">During the 3-day jaunt, I presented two of my more popular sessions. &nbsp;These are updated slide decks, in case you want to download them here:</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><a title="End-to-End Troubleshooting for Microsoft SQL Server" href="http://kevinekline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/UG-End-to-End-Troubleshooting.zip">UG - End-to-End Troubleshooting</a></p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">and</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><a title="Top 10 DBA Blunders on Microsoft SQL Server" href="http://kevinekline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/UG-Top-10-SQL-Server-Administration-Mistakes.zip">UG - Top 10 SQL Server Administration Mistakes</a></p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><a href="http://kevinekline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMAG2492.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-2033" title="Kevin &amp; Steve Murchie" alt="" width="125" height="210" style="border:0px;cursor:default;float:right;" src="http://kevinekline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMAG2492-179x300.jpg"></a>Be sure to check in the Slides area of the website, if you want to see the links for SpeakerRate, and in the case of several of my presentations, white papers, video recordings, etc. It's the People that Matter</p><h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">A Blast from the SQLPASS Past!</h2><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">I've always tried to maintain the relationships I built with the founding members of the&nbsp;<a title="The Professional Association for SQL Server" href="http://www.sqlpass.org/">PASS</a>&nbsp;board of directors. &nbsp;After their time on the PASS board, almost all of them have moved on from SQL Server to other adventures. &nbsp;Pam Smith, the first president of the organization, is now a professor. &nbsp;Guy Brown, the second president, is now the director of IT at his same employer, rather than just SQL Server as when he was on the PASS board. &nbsp;A few, such as Kurt Windisch, a former VP of PASS, and my good friend&nbsp;Joe Webb (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/joewebb">Twitter</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.webbtechsolutions.com/blog">Blog</a>), are still active in the SQL Server space. &nbsp;One relationship that I've enjoyed over the years is with PASS' original Microsoft liaison and now a Denver-area software entrepreneur Steve Murchie (at right) running his own healthcare IT outfit. &nbsp;Steve has been a source of inspiration to me and also of great advice for all things startup-related. &nbsp;It was great to connect with Steve and catch up on his latest doings.</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">I also got to enjoy an evening out with the local attendees after the Denver user group meeting. &nbsp;It was great to hang out with folks there. &nbsp;I got to meet&nbsp;<a title="Kevin Cox on deck for 24HOP of SQLPASS.ORG" href="http://www.sqlpass.org/24hours/fall2012/SessionsbySchedule/SpeakerDetails.aspx?spid=480">Kevin Cox</a>&nbsp;(<a title="Kevin Cox's Twitter Feed" href="http://twitter.com/KevinCoxSQL">twitter</a>), a member of Microsoft's incredibly talented&nbsp;<a title="The Microsoft SQL Server Customer Advisory Team" href="http://www.sqlcat.com/">SQLCAT</a>&nbsp;group, and for whom I was a technical editor on a SQL Server v6.5 book back in the Neanderthal era. &nbsp;That shows just how old both Kevin and I actually are. &nbsp;Other cool folks that I got to meet included&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/stevewake">Steve Wake</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/mike_fal">Mike Fal</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/marcbeacom">Marc Beacom</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/jasonkassay">Jason Kassay</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/jasonhorner">Jason Horner</a>&nbsp;and my ol' buddy,&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/greeleygeek">Kelly the Greeley Geek</a>.</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">On top of that, long-time SQL Server MVP and all-around awesome guy&nbsp;Steve Jones (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/way0utwest">Twitter</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/sqlmusings">Blog</a>) visited. &nbsp;I kept him out way too late that night which, to be honest, isn't usually my style. &nbsp;But the good conversation propelled us on past midnight.</p><h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">The Good Folks at SQL Server Professional and Windows IT Professional Magazines</h2><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><a href="http://kevinekline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMAG2486.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-2036" title="Kevin and the Ladies of SQLMag" alt="" width="240" height="143" style="border:0px;cursor:default;float:right;" src="http://kevinekline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMAG2486-300x179.jpg"></a>I've written for SQL Server Professional (formerly the artist known as "SQLMag") in some form or another starting from my first cover article for them way back in the mid 1990's. &nbsp;My&nbsp;<a title="Kevin Kline's Tool Time column at SQL Server Professional Magazine" href="http://www.sqlmag.com/blogcontent/seriespath/tool-time-blog-16">Tool Time column</a>&nbsp;has been going strong there since, oh, around 2006 iirc. &nbsp;For most of the time I've known the folks at SQLMag, they were located in Loveland, CO but they were able to move to some incredibly nice digs just up the road in Fort Collins. &nbsp;In all the many years, I've written for them, I'd never been to their offices - until now. &nbsp;It was great to visit and break bread with Megan (to my right), Blair (across), and Jaylee (across and to my right)!</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">I've always supported SQLMag and encourage you to subscribe. &nbsp;On top of the goodness already in the digital magazine, there are some neat developments coming down the pipeline with SQLMag which I think we'll all enjoy. &nbsp;Be sure to subscribe today! &nbsp;(You can click the badge on the left or simply go to&nbsp;<a title="SQL Server Professional Magazine" href="http://www.sqlmag.com/">http://www.sqlmag.com</a>).</p><h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">&nbsp;What's Next?</h2><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">My current travel schedule is pinned up on&nbsp;<a title="Kevin Kline's appearance schedule" href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/07/31/come-see-me-ill-probably-be-just-down-the-street-soon/">this blog post HERE</a>. &nbsp;However, I also know of a couple on-line appearances and probably a trip between the long gap between now and my next in-person appearance at the&nbsp;<a title="Orlando SQL Saturday 151" href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/151/eventhome.aspx">Orlando SQL Saturday</a>&nbsp;at the end of&nbsp;September, where I'll also be teaching a pre-conference seminar (<a title="SQL Server Configuration and Tuning Seminar" href="http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3895236758?ref=ebtn">register HERE for the seminar</a>).</p><h3 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">SSWUG</h3><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">The first on-line event to note is my a presentation by&nbsp;<a title="SQL Server Worldwide User Group" href="http://www.sswug.org/">SSWUG</a>&nbsp;of my&nbsp;<a title="Kevin Kline and SSWUG bring you &quot;Leadership Skills for IT Professionals&quot;" href="http://www.vconferenceonline.com/event/home.aspx?id=769">Leadership Skills for IT Professionals video series</a>, starting on August 24th. &nbsp;Sign up using the hyperlink (note that a video plays immediately upon loading the webpage, in case you want to be ready to pause or stop it). &nbsp;You can also buy a DVD set of the 14 hours of leadership training content.</p><h3 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">24HOP - The 24 Hours of PASS Event</h3><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">I'll also be speaking on the topic of influence in the next&nbsp;<a title="The 2012 24 Hours of PASS session schedule" href="http://www.sqlpass.org/24hours/fall2012/SessionsbySchedule.aspx">24 Hours of PASS coming up on September 20th and 21st</a>. &nbsp;Registration for the twenty-four hours of around the clock presentations is completely free and well worth your time. &nbsp;Check the schedule for the event and register! &nbsp;Even if you can only watch one or two sessions (or even zero sessions), be sure to register so that you'll automatically be notified when the sessions become available as streaming media.</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">Enjoy!</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">-Kev</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">-Follow me on&nbsp;<a title="Kevin Kline on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/kekline">Twitter</a>,&nbsp;<a title="Kevin Kline on LinkedIn" href="http://linkedin.com/kekline">LinkedIn</a>, and&nbsp;<a title="Kevin Kline on Facebook" href="http://facebook.com/kekline">Facebook</a></p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">&nbsp;</p>Troubleshooting Repeated Login Failures on SQL Serverhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2011/10/21/troubleshooting-repeated-login-failures-on-sql-server.aspxFri, 21 Oct 2011 13:05:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:39300KKline<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">I’d recently
experienced a situation where I was getting repeated login failures to a SQL
Server where I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;">knew </i>that I had the
correct user name and password.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Each
time, I’d get error 18456 in response.<o:p></o:p></font></span><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:9.5pt;">"Login failed for
user '&lt;user_name&gt;'. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456)".</span><span style="font-size:14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</blockquote>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">The
challenge when troubleshooting this error message is that you may have a
problem with SQL Server or you may have a problem with Active Directory or
Kerberos, if you’re using one of those authentication technologies.</font></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri"><o:p></o:p></font></span>&nbsp;</p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><h2 style="margin:10pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;mso-bidi-font-size:13.0pt;"><font color="#4f81bd"><font face="Cambria">A
False Trail<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></h2><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri"></font></span>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">When times
are good, and you’re able to make a connection, you can&nbsp;always query <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;">sys.dm_exec_connections</i>, to see how you’re
connecting, for example, using NTLM rather than Kerberos.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>But that doesn’t help us when we can’t
connect to the server at all.<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">In other
situations, your problem might be caused by duplicate SPMs in Active Directory.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>MVP Russell Fields documented a </font><a href="http://msmvps.com/blogs/vandooren/archive/2008/03/11/getting-rid-of-the-duplicate-spn-in-active-directory.aspx"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">nice
solution for ridding Active Directory of duplicate SPNs here</font></a><font face="Calibri">. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp;</span>Microsoft Support also mentions some </font><a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321044"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">troubleshooting steps for
authentication problems here</font></a><font face="Calibri">.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>Ok,
that helps. But it’s not my solution.<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><o:p><font face="Calibri">&nbsp;</font></o:p></span></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><h2 style="margin:10pt 0in 0pt;"><font size="4"><font color="#4f81bd"><font face="Cambria">MVPs to the Rescue<o:p></o:p></font></font></font></h2><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><o:p><font face="Calibri">&nbsp;</font></o:p></span></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">Fortunately,
my MVP buddies Edwin Sarmiento (</font><a href="http://bassplayerdoc.blogspot.com/"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">blog</font></a><font face="Calibri">
| </font><a href="http://www.twitter.com/bassplayerdoc"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">twitter</font></a><font face="Calibri">) of Canada and Bitemo
Erik Gergely (</font><a href="http://blog.rollback.hu/"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">blog</font></a><font face="Calibri">) of Hungaria had
already discussed and solved the problem for me.<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">Something
Erik pointed out, but hadn’t occurred to me at first, is that if you’re getting
this SQL Server error message then you’ve actually reached the server and
probably aren’t having a full disconnect error.&nbsp; </font></span><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">The second
thing that Erik pointed out is <em>the importance of the state element</em> of this error message.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>A lot of the time, you can simply ignore the
state element of an error message.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;">But not this time. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp;</span></i>As it turns out, <em>state is the key to
solving the problem</em>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>For example, a
state of 18 indicates that the password must be changed.<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">Microsoft
provides a pretty </font><a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2006/02/21/536201.aspx"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">good
description of the states of error 18456 here</font></a><font face="Calibri">, but it leaves out a few
things.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>(You’ll get more useful info if
you read all of the comments too).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>But
again, Erik comes to the rescue by providing </font><a href="http://blog.rollback.hu/2009/12/error-18456-level-14-state-sql-server-login-errors/"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">a
complete and concise list of error 18456 states here</font></a><font face="Calibri">.<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><o:p><font face="Calibri">&nbsp;</font></o:p></span></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font><h2 style="margin:10pt 0in 0pt;"><font size="4"><font color="#4f81bd"><font face="Cambria">Microsoft Improves the Documentation<o:p></o:p></font></font></font></h2><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><o:p><font face="Calibri">&nbsp;</font></o:p></span></p>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">Even better
for all troubleshooting situation involving state information, Microsoft has
now added </font><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms365262.aspx"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">state
descriptions for errors in Books Online</font></a><font face="Calibri">, including </font><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645917.aspx"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">error 18456</font></a><font face="Calibri">.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;">&nbsp; </span>When you look in your SQL Server error log,
you see the state of the error and be able to make an accurate deduction about
the nature of the error!<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">Hope this
helps,<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">-Kev<o:p></o:p></font></span></p>
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</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">-Follow me
on </font><a href="http://twitter.com/kekline"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">Twitter</font></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14pt;"><font face="Calibri">-More content on my&nbsp;</font><a href="http://KevinEKline.com"><font color="#0000ff" face="Calibri">blog</font></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
</font>Microsoft Windows Platforms Blog Watchhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2011/07/20/microsoft-windows-platforms-blog-watch.aspxWed, 20 Jul 2011 14:44:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:37148KKline<p><br><a href="http://KevinEKline.com"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B5-1oeewfB8/S67FJZgM_UI/AAAAAAAAKsU/CvIHTQiKREM/s1600/laurel-and-hardy.jpg" class="alignright" alt="" height="204" width="298"></a>
<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Remote Desktop Services Component Architecture Poster</strong>
</p><p>Grab your own poster! A <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&amp;FamilyID=9bc943b7-07c5-4335-9df9-20e77ed5032e" title="Microsoft RDS Services Poster" target="_blank">visual guide to key Remote Desktop Services technologies</a> in Windows Server 2008R2
&nbsp;
<strong></strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Virtually Free</strong>
</p><p>Get the latest <strong><a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2264080" title="Microsoft Hyper-V" target="_blank">update rollup package for the Hyper-V</a></strong> role in Windows Server 2008 R2 and be sure to bookmark the <strong><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization" title="Microsoft Windows Virtualization Team Blog" target="_blank">Windows Virtualization Team Blog</a></strong>. Be sure to check out blog <strong><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/virtualworld" title="More virtual goodness from Microsoft" target="_blank">World Simplified is a Virtual World</a></strong>. And doncha evah neglect application virtualization, such as the goodness at the<strong> <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/appv" title="Microsoft App-V Team Blog" target="_blank">App-V Product Team Blog</a></strong>.
&nbsp;
</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Let's Optimize Some Desktops (Assuming You Have Gone Full Cloud Yet)
</strong>
</p><p>Check out <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/mdop" title="microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack">The Official Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) Blog</a> where you can get cool tools like the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (<a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/mdop/archive/2011/04/04/diagnostics-and-recovery-toolset-dart-7-beta-released.aspx" title="Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset" target="_blank">DART</a>), currently in its v7 beta release.</p><p>
&nbsp;
<strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/kekline"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7RLcOYR_dmI/TagbsV2eiBI/AAAAAAAAAB8/J7-80luLEZk/s1600/Laurel-Hardy.jpg" class="alignleft" alt="" height="220" width="300"></a></strong></p><p><strong>We Can Always Perform a Little Better</strong>
</p><p>Have you checked out the <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/askperf" title="Microsoft Performance Team Blog" target="_blank">Ask the Performance Team blog</a> yet. You should! Then there's the<a href="http://blogs.technet.com/networking" title="Microsoft Enterprise Networking Team Blog" target="_blank"> Microsoft Enterprise Networking Team blog</a>. And if you're looking for help with the Windows Server Core, be sure to check out the <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/askcore" title="Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support: Windows Server Core Team" target="_blank">Ask the Core Team blog</a>. Excellent stuff!
As the <a href="http://www.sqlmag.com/blogcontent/tool-time-blog-16" title="Kevin's Monthly Tool Time Column in SQL Server Magazine" target="_blank">Tool Time columnist at SQL Server Magazine</a>, I'm always on the lookout for great free tools that get on-going support from their creators. One common experience is finding a nice debugging tool, only to discover that there's <em>no information on how to interpret the debugger result sets</em>! (<a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2007/06/28/understanding-sqliosim-output.aspx" title="An Old but Still Popular Blog Entry on SQLIOSIM" target="_blank">SQLIOSim </a>anyone?) That's why I love the <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ntdebugging/" title="Microsoft Windows Advanced Debugging and Troubleshooting Blog" target="_blank">Microsoft Advanced Windows Debugging and Troubleshooting blog</a>. Another must-have on your Favorites list.
&nbsp;
</p><p>
Enjoy!
</p><p>-Kev
</p><p>&nbsp;Follow me on <a href="http://twitter.com/kekline" title="C'mon. You know you want to!" target="_blank">Twitter</a>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;</p><strong></strong>New on SQLMag.Com: Update to SP_WHOISACTIVEhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2011/04/21/new-on-sqlmag-com-update-to-sp-whoisactive.aspxThu, 21 Apr 2011 14:12:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:35077KKline<p>I profiled Adam Machanic's (<a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/adam_machanic/default.aspx" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/AdamMachanic" target="_blank">twitter</a>)
excellent stored procedure, SP_WHOISACTIVE, back in August of 2010 in
my monthly SQLMag column, Tool Time.&nbsp; Adam has been diligent about
maintaining the tool and adding new features. Read the details on my SQLMag Tool Time column (here - <a href="http://www.sqlmag.com/blogs/tool-time/entryid/76341/new-release-of-sp_whoisactive" target="_blank">http://www.sqlmag.com/blogs/tool-time/entryid/76341/new-release-of-sp_whoisactive</a>).</p>
<div>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>-Kev</p>
<div><a href="http://twitter.com/kekline" title="C'mon. You know you want to!" target="_blank">Twitter at kekline</a></div>
</div><div><div>
&nbsp;More content at<span>&nbsp;<a href="http://kevinekline.com/">http://KevinEKline.com</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<br></span></div>
</div>
<div> <a href="http://kevinekline.com/"><br>
</a> </div>Database Maintenance Scripting Done Righthttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2011/02/18/database-maintenance-scripting-done-right.aspxFri, 18 Feb 2011 13:16:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:33607KKline<br>I first wrote about useful database maintenance scripts on my<a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2008/03/26/more-sql-server-automation-scripts.aspx" title="Mad skillz in Mad scriptz" target="_blank"> SQLBlog account</a> way back in 2008. Hmmm - now that I think about it, I first wrote about my own useful database maintenance scripts in a journal called SQL Server Professional back in the mid-1990's on SQL Server v6.5 or some such. But I digress...
<a href="http://KevinEKline.com"><img src="http://www.binbin.net/photos/everythingplay/mov/movie-script-note-book.jpg" title="Script" alt="" height="247" width="247"></a>
Anyway, I pointed out a couple useful sites where you could get some good scripts that would take care of preventative maintenance on your SQL Server, such as index defragmentation, updating statistics, and so forth. One of the script kits came directly from Microsoft's internal database management team. But, alas, they haven't published any updates in quite a while. On the other hand, the other set of scripts came from Ola Hallengren, who has done a great job keeping his scripts up to date.
Recently, Ola added support for updating column statistics, both in a generalized update and also updates for only those columns whose statistics have been modified. He's added some other goodies to the latest release, which you can read about here, <a href="http://ola.hallengren.com/Versions.html">http://ola.hallengren.com/Versions.html</a> for all details.
In addition, I'd like to remind you of the white paper I wrote a while back called <a href="http://www.quest.com/documents/landing.aspx?id=10931" title="Free, but registration is required" target="_blank"><em>Automating DBA Processes</em></a>, which covers many aspects of database automation and cherry picks some of the best practices from many different thought leaders, such as Ola, Michelle Ufford <a href="http://sqlfool.com/" target="_blank">(</a><a href="http://sqlfool.com/">blog</a> | @<a href="http://twitter.com/sqlfool">sqlfool</a>) who will be speaking at the <a href="http://www.sqlpass.org/24hours/Spring2011/default.aspx" title="Celebrating Women in Technology with an all-female speaker line up!" target="_blank">24HOP </a>soon, and Allen White (<a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/allen_white/archive/tags/PowerShell/default.aspx" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/sqlrunr">twitter</a>).2009: The Year in List Formhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2010/01/05/2009-the-year-in-list-form.aspxTue, 05 Jan 2010 18:53:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:20593KKline
<p>Before I jump onto the <a href="http://thomaslarock.com/2009/12/2010-goals-and-themeword/" title="Tom Larock - Goals and Themeword For 2010" target="_blank">Goals and Themeword</a> meme started by my buddy, Thomas LaRock (<a href="http://thomaslarock.com/" title="Tom LaRock's Blog" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/sqlrockstar" title="Tom LaRock's Twitter" target="_blank">twitter</a>),
I decided I'd spend a few minutes looking back on both the year 2009.
(From a personal standpoint, the 00's were my most difficult decade
yet.&nbsp; Major problems of every stripe beset me on all sides and with
alarming frequency throughout the decade.&nbsp; I was all "Good Riddance"
and "Don't let the door hit y'ass on the way out, 2009!" as the ball
dropped in Times Square.)</p>
<p>Rather than spend a lot of time cooking up my own top 10 lists, I
reckoned (that's Southern for "thought", btw) I'd recap a few others
top X lists that are in the ballpark of my own personal opinion.&nbsp; I
couldn't resist putting together my own list at the end, which I'd love
to hear your thoughts on.&nbsp; In addition, <b><i>I want to hear about your Top 10 (or 5 or 3) for 2009</i></b>!</p>
<h2>Their Lists<br></h2>
<p>Time Magazine's list of <a href="http://time.com/toptens" title="Time Magazine Top 10 of Everything 2009" target="_blank">Top 10 of Everything 2009</a>
was a pretty good recap for the year on big ol' cultural touch points
like movies and music.&nbsp; I found at least one thing to agree with in
each of their pop culture lists:&nbsp; movies - <a href="http://thehurtlocker-movie.com/" title="The Hurt Locker Official Website" target="_blank">The Hurt Locker</a> - check;&nbsp; TV shows - my personal favorite for its brilliant cohesive multiyear storyline and excellent character studies, <a href="http://abc.go.com/shows/lost" title="Lost Official Website" target="_blank">Lost</a> - check; album - <a href="http://www.theavettbrothers.com/news/i-and-love-and-you-album-news" title="Album info for the Avett Brothers &quot;I and Love and You&quot;" target="_blank">I and Love and You</a> by the Avett Brothers - check; books (sigh - if only I had more time) included the wonderful <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Age-Wonder-Romantic-Generation-Discovered/dp/0375422226/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1262723703&amp;sr=1-1" title="Amazon - The Age of Wonder" target="_blank">The Age of Wonders by Richard Holmes</a>.</p>
<p>Lifehacker's <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5437186/most-popular-hive-five-topics-of-2009" title="LifeHacker's Top 5 Hive Topics of 2009" target="_blank">Top 5 Hive Topics of 2009</a>
is a very interesting list covering lots of topics and pointing out a
lot of interesting tools that I hadn't encountered before.&nbsp; My personal
favorite among them was the <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5280976/five-best-alternative-file-copiers" title="30 seconds remaining... 20 seconds remaining... 10 seconds remaining... 37 seconds remaining..." target="_blank">Top 5 Alternative File Copiers</a>,
since the Windows Explorer copy feature reminds me of hungrily awaiting
my food in the microwave and just as the counter gets to the T-10
countdown, it goes back up to 30, then down to 8, then back up to 42,
then down to 14.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if they meant to be funny but Digg's <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/12/23/digg-stories-2009/" title="Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2009" target="_blank">Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2009</a> is hilarious, much in the same way that Brent Ozar (<a href="http://brentozar.com" title="That's MISTER Brent Ozar to you, bub" target="_blank">blog </a>| <a href="http://twitter.com/brento" title="Tweet Tweet" target="_blank">twitter</a>) and I were when we put on an unintentionally hilarious performance at the <a href="http://sqlinthewild.co.za/index.php/2009/11/03/pass-2009-pre-con/" title="Gail Shaw, SQL in the Wild Blog, PASS 2009 Quiz Bowl and other pics" target="_blank">PASS 2009 Summit Quiz bowl</a>.&nbsp; Go ahead - ask Colin Stasiuk (<a href="http://benchmarkitconsulting.com/" title="Colin Stasiuk's Blog" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/benchmarkit">twitter</a>) what he thought of our performance...</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br></p>
<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter"><img src="http://sqlinthewild.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/WeirdPerson.jpg" class=" " title="Colin Stasiuk, or, as Gail Shaw calls him, weird person" alt="Impressed by Our Quiz Bowl Performance?" height="336" width="448">Impressed by Our Quiz Bowl Performance?</div>
<p style="text-align:left;">Speaking of unintentionally funny, have you seen Yahoo's <a href="http://yearinreview.yahoo.com/2009/top10" title="Do you Yahoo!?" target="_blank">Top 10 Searches of 2009</a>?&nbsp;
Evidently, the median Internet user (at least from their metrics) is
hormone-laden, teenage redneck with a thing for fast cars (Nascar),
Hollywood hotties (Megan Fox), and an unassailable but secret love for
Mormon-influenced Vampires (Twilight).</p>
<h2 style="text-align:left;">My List<br></h2>
<p style="text-align:left;">I
usually try to blog at least once per week and, when I can, even more.&nbsp;
I still have this deep down urge to post lots of small blog posts of
just a couple paragraphs.&nbsp; But for some reason, I always seem to come
out with these big ol' epistles.&nbsp; Despite my verbosity, y'all still
read what I write and for that I'm very thankful.&nbsp; Over the last year,
these were my top ten blog posts according to your interest:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/05/22/microsoft-resources-too-good-not-to-share.aspx" target="_blank" title="#1">Best of the [SQL Server] Blogs</a> and its sister post <a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/07/24/great-blogs-from-microsoft-sql-server-teams.aspx" target="_blank" title="#1, Part Deux">Great Blogs from the Microsoft SQL Server Teams</a>, also my number one spam generators.&nbsp; Ever spammer on the planet seems to want their comment appended here.<br></li>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/05/22/microsoft-resources-too-good-not-to-share.aspx" target="_blank" title="Numero Dos">Microsoft Resources Too Good Not to Share</a>, which I can't honestly remember if they were any good or not.&nbsp; But I bet they were.<br></li>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/05/13/are-we-there-yet-mom.aspx" target="_blank" title="Dri!">Are We There Yet, Mom?</a> in which I flashback to my childhood road trip experiences when considering Microsoft's overall product strategy.</li>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/01/15/does-the-down-econmy-have-an-impact-on-your-job.aspx" target="_blank" title="Four">Does the Down Economy Have an Impact on Your Job</a>, cuz it sure punched mine in the mouth.</li>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/07/10/why-do-i-keep-seeing-this-mistake.aspx" target="_blank" title="Cinco">Why Do I Keep Seeing This Mistake</a>, in which I learn that "Hello World" type applications can lead to massive misunderstandings.</li>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/05/06/microsoft-marketing-throws-sql-server-under-the-bus.aspx" target="_blank" title="Six">Microsoft [Corporate] Marketing Throws SQL Server Under the Bus</a>.&nbsp; We can't get no respect, not even from corporate HQ.</li>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/04/07/looking-for-good-dmv-database-admin-queries.aspx" target="_blank" title="Seben">Looking for Good DMV Database Admin Queries</a>,
where you can find just about every good DMV query ever written except
those other really good ones that are posted here in the comments.</li>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/06/23/old-performance-tuning-recommendations-die-hard.aspx" target="_blank" title="The Ocho">Old Performance Recommendations Die Hard</a>, and when I saw "die hard" I don't mean like Bruce Willis.</li>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/03/10/things-you-know-now.aspx" target="_blank" title="Uh, nine">Things You Know Now</a>,
a semi-successful meme I started where I asked participants to tells us
about stuff they'd do differently if they knew it way back in the day.</li>
<li><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2007/06/28/understanding-sqliosim-output.aspx" target="_blank" title="Ten">Understanding SQLIOSim Output</a>, because no one seems to fully understand this tool, including me.<br></li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align:left;">I
excluded a few posts that were numerically in the top ten because,
well, they're my blog posts and I didn't want them in the top ten.&nbsp; So
there!&nbsp; But those that I excluded were things like reposting an
interview done by another blogger or maybe a product or book that I
plugged for some reason or an other.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">I
hope you've enjoyed my blogging and found it valuable.&nbsp; Tomorrow, I'm
jumping on the themeword and goals meme.&nbsp; In fact, I'm crashin' the
party because none of my peeps called on me.&nbsp; [pout]</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Be well!</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">-Kevin</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">&nbsp;Twitter @KEKline</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br></p>
<p>
</p>
<p></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman','serif';"><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2007/06/28/understanding-sqliosim-output.aspx">http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2007/06/28/understanding-sqliosim-output.aspx</a></span></div><div id="refHTML"></div>Sequels for SQL Server: The Week of November 27, 2009http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/11/25/the-seven-sequels-for-sql-the-week-of-november-27-2009.aspxWed, 25 Nov 2009 22:02:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:19199KKline<p>Just as an FYI, I've added one new slide deck and webcast to <a href="http://KevinEKline.com/Slides/" target="_self">http://KevinEKline.com/Slides/</a>, as well as quite a few upcoming user group events where I'm speaking in <a href="http://KevinEKline/Upcoming-Events/" target="_self">http://KevinEKline/Upcoming-Events/</a>.<span id="sample-permalink"></span> </p><p>I'm starting a new series called <i>Sequels for SQL</i> <i>Server</i>.&nbsp; In
this series, I point you to seven sites where you can go beyond the
nose-to-the-grindstone resources that we see every day as SQL Server
professionals.&nbsp; These are the story that comes after and outside (the
sequels) of our daily working lives (the other SQL).&nbsp; Let's broaden our
horizons together.&nbsp; If you hit on an interesting but overlooked topic,
I'd like to hear from you at http://KevinEKline.com/.<br></p><p><br></p><h3><i>SQL Server: We live it.&nbsp; We love it.</i></h3><p style="padding-left:30px;">An <a href="http://www.ramsan.com/success/ccpgames.htm" target="_blank" title="CCD Games and RamSan Case Study">amazing example of explosive growth in SQL Server performance using SSD</a>s from one of the most popular on-line gaming systems, Eve On-Line by CCP Games.<br></p><h3><i>Devices &amp; Gadgets: Usually making our lives better, sometimes not so much.</i></h3><p style="padding-left:30px;">Everyone I know wants the newest best smartphone, InfoWorld gives us a good test run of them all. <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/ultimate-mobile-deathmatch-iphone-vs-blackberry-vs-droid-vs-pre-453" target="_blank" title="InfoWorld.com">Ultimate mobile deathmatch: iPhone vs. BlackBerry vs. Droid vs. Pre</a>. <br></p><h3><i>Futurewatch: Important issues just over the horizon.</i></h3><p style="padding-left:30px;">The <a href="http://www.smartertechnology.com/c/a/Technology-For-Change/Is-the-Smart-Grid-a-Dumb-Idea/" target="_blank" title="SmarterTechnology.com">reshaping of our national power grid will provide profound benefits to consumers</a>, but it will also bring enormous liabilities that could equal—or even outweigh—the very problems we hope to solve.&nbsp;&nbsp; And this <a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/e/1253" target="_blank" title="O'Reilly Webcasts">webcast from O'Reilly on Grid 2.0</a> is also quite good. <br></p><h3><i>Humor: I haz da funny.</i></h3><p style="padding-left:30px;"><a href="http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/For-the-Ease-of-Maintenance.aspx" target="_blank" title="DailyWTF.com">Witness firsthand a mind-boggling worst practice by a DBA</a> insisting that he's implementing a best practice.<br></p><h3><i>Professional Development: Because there are two words in "database professional".</i></h3><p style="padding-left:30px;">Peter
Drucker, one of the greats in management thought-leadership, would've
turned 100 last week were he alive today.&nbsp; Check out <a href="http://sixdisciplines.blogspot.com/2005/11/quotes-from-daily-drucker.html" target="_blank" title="Top 20 Quotes of Peter Drucker">these top 20 quotes</a> from the man who revolutionized management theory. <br></p>
<h3><i>Society: Important issues to discuss with your friends and family.</i></h3>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">Quoting <a href="http://www.fool.com" target="_blank" title="The Motley Fool">the Motley Fool</a>,
"We spent the latter half of 2008 feeling the wrath of "too big to
fail." Today, banks are bigger than ever. We need to end that. Now."&nbsp;
It's Time to End "Too Big to Fail".&nbsp; Read <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/11/13/its-time-to-end-too-big-to-fail.aspx" target="_blank" title="The Motley Fool, Too Big to Fail?">this thought-provoking article</a> soon.<br></p>
<h3><i>WorldView: If James Bond knows that the world is not enough, then so should I.</i></h3>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">The smartest analyst on international issues out there, Fareed Zakari, discusses US and Indian relations in <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/223794?from=rss&amp;utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+newsweek%2Fcolumnists%2FFareedZakaria+%%28UPDATED+-+Columnists+-++Fareed+Zakaria+-+World+View%%29" target="_blank" title="Fareed Zakari, on Newsweek.com">this insightful article</a> from Newsweek. </p><p>Thanks,</p><p>-Kevin</p><p>&nbsp;Twitter @KEKline</p><p>&nbsp;More content at http://KevinEKline.com/ <br></p><p></p><div id="refHTML"></div><div id="refHTML"></div><div id="refHTML"></div>